A New Day
by MrMcMayo
Summary: After a hard day, a good nights rest really does wonders. If only you woke up where you fell asleep... Follow the adventure that is the life of Naruto Uzumaki and his twin sister, Akiko. Rated M for language. Pairings later.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I, MrMcMayo, do not own Naruto.

Chapter One – I'm Really Confused and I'm Rolling with it

So… I'm not entirely sure what's happening. The last thing I remember is having a really shitty day at college and I really just wanted to go home and go to bed. Well, once I got in bed, I fell asleep almost instantly. It was the best sleep I'd had in a long time. However, when I woke up, I was really confused and disoriented, I was being thrown around a lot and my head hurt and I just wanted to go back to sleep. Eventually my head cleared a little but I still couldn't make sense of anything.

For starters, I was small. Like, really small. I couldn't do anything other than turn my head and flail my arms and legs. When I tried to open my eyes, everything was just a bright blur, so I figured I might as well just keep them shut for now. _"What the hell is going on, is this a bad dream or something?"_ I thought to myself because I couldn't speak, either. Then _it_ happened.

 _It_ was the worst feeling of fear I have ever felt and it washed over me. I stopped moving immediately, thinking, _hoping_ , whatever the source of _it_ would just leave me alone. It clearly didn't work because I felt myself get picked up again. At least _it_ was still far away… oh. Never mind. Somehow I ended up really close to _it_ , and whatever picked me up put me down really close to _it_ for about five minutes.

After about five minutes, I think, I felt the most unimaginable pain start in my stomach and rapidly spread throughout the rest of my body. I started to cry, I couldn't help myself. I thought that I would wake up any minute now, hoping it would relieve me from the pain. I never woke up. The pain didn't stop. Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. Everything went black.

When I woke up, I had a really, really bad headache and I was still really, really small. I probably would have been more worried about the latter if the headache wasn't so bad. It eventually went away though, and when it did, I tried to remember anything really. All I could remember was being upset and being tired and the pain. Lots of pain.

I kept doing this for a while. Eventually my really, really small body started to grow and I was finally able to do more than just flail around. I was hoping to remember more after I woke up in what I thought was a dream. Nothing happened though. I still remembered nothing more than what I had before.

A really long time after I opened my eyes for the first time, I started to get the hang of speaking. That was my first memory of the old man. There was just something about him that made me feel safe. It was the old man who told me that I had a twin brother. When he started to explain to me what a twin brother was, something seemed familiar about it. It was on the tip of my tongue but it just wouldn't come to me.

Ever since I found out that the only family I had left was my brother, I spent a majority of my time with him. His name is Naruto Uzumaki. He has spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each cheek. He's so hyper that I got tired from just watching him bounce off the walls of the orphanage. He was my exact opposite in every way. My name was Akiko Uzumaki. For starters, I was a girl. I had the softest dark red hair, purple eyes, and no whisker marks at all. I was pretty shy, especially compared to him.

We still loved each other though. We really only had each other and the old man who we started to call Jiji because of how often he came to see us at the orphanage. The rest of the people we were around were at the orphanage and they didn't really like us. At all.

I may be young, but I still noticed how they put both of us in timeout a lot more than the others. For example, one time I asked the workers if I could have more food. They hardly gave either of us any food so I gave what was mine to Naruto. He wouldn't even take it until I told him I would ask for more and he still didn't like taking my share. When they put me in time out for "being greedy" Naruto started arguing with them and he ended up with the same fate and gave us both an early bedtime.

Things like that kept happening. Naruto just shrugs it off when I mention something about it to him. I don't think he ever really notices anything like it. That's another way we were opposites. I pick up things A LOT faster than he does. That's one of the reasons why I'm quiet. I didn't want others to know that about me.

We stayed in the orphanage until our sixth birthday. That's when they decided we were ready to fend for ourselves out in the world. It probably didn't help that Naruto pulled one of his pranks. They only let us keep the clothes on our backs. Needless to say, we had no idea what to do. Since it was pretty late, I convinced him we needed a place to stay for the night.

After walking around the village for about ten minutes, I started to notice the nasty looks and glares from everyone. Civilians, shop keeps, ninjas, you name it. I started to worry. I opted to not tell Naruto, no need to get him worked up. Wanting to really find a place now, I grabbed his hand and started walking faster. He seemed confused but didn't say anything.

Eventually, I came across an alley way that looked alright to me and Naruto didn't speak up. Personally, I think he was shocked that his sister took control for once. Any ways, it turns out going into the alley way was a mistake because a group of people cornered us. Some were civilians, some were ninjas, and most of them were drunk.

"Well well well, what do we have here? Both of the demon brats think they can walk the streets on a day like this. I think we should teach 'em a lesson," said one of the ninjas in the crowd, who voiced their agreement. I'll be honest, I was really scarred and Naruto was too based on how furiously he was shaking.

"We didn't mean to cause any trouble, please, just let us leave and you won't see us again." I pleaded with the group.

"Oh ho, someone thinks they can sweet talk their way out of this. How cute." That scared me even more.

"Just leave us alone, what did we even do to you?" Naruto said, finally speaking up.

"What did you do?! Don't be ridiculous! You both know exactly what you did, and we're gonna make you pay! Let's start with the screamer guys, we don't want anyone coming to stop our revenge."

Most of them charged at Naruto while two went for me. I had absolutely no idea what to do. I knew I couldn't fight at all, or the two people coming after me, let alone the entire group of people, but I didn't want to run because I didn't want to leave Naruto. No, I couldn't leave him. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Hardening my resolve, I tried to get past the two who were going after me. Luckily, one was a civilian and the other one couldn't be any more than a Genin. I would have thought he was a civilian too if it wasn't for his forehead protector.

When they lunged at me at the same time, one from my nine o'clock and the other from my three o'clock, I ducked under both of them by diving forwards. I recovered faster than they did and went straight for the rest of the people beating up my brother. None of them saw me coming, but there wasn't much I could do. I settled on going for the back of as many knees as I could. I made three of them fall on others in the group before they caught on to what was happening and I had to get away. Luckily, It was just enough for Naruto to get away too.

"Naruto, we need to get out of here and find help!" I yelled at my brother. Accepting this, he was able to get to the opening of the alley way. Thankfully, he was so focused on doing what I told him that he didn't notice that I was getting in the way of the group so he could get out of here. His eyes were wide when he realized what had happened

"Akiko! What are you doing?! I thought you meant both of us!" He yelled, clearly distressed.

"Why did you stop running? Don't worry about me, get out of here and find help!" I yelled back a little stressed. He hesitated for a second, then he finally left when people from the group started to go after him. " _Good, one less person to worry about. Now, how am I gonna handle this…_ " I thought to myself until someone disturbed my train of thought.

"How touching, one demon sacrificed herself so the other demon can try to run away. It's a shame that it won't matter. He'll get what's coming to him in due time. I guess you'll have to do for now." They must have been pretty mad because the ninja pulled out kunai and even gave some to the civilians.

At this point I really started to panic. There were eight people with knives coming at me. I tried to get away but they would keep blocking my escape. I almost felt completely hopeless when they surrounded me. The only thing I can do is hope that I can survive whatever it is they're going to do to me until Naruto comes back with help.

At first, they were just giving me cuts all over. I thought it hurt when I was cut, but boy was I in for a surprise when they decided to start stabbing me. At that point I started screaming for someone to help me. I could see the opening of the alley way, just enough to see that people were just walking by, paying absolutely no attention to what was happening to a six year old.

"I'm tired of your infernal yelling demon, be quiet!" one of them said as they went for my throat.

From choking on my on my own blood and losing so much of it, everything started to get blurry. My attempts at resistance got weaker. That's when I heard it. I heard a new voice, not someone from the group. That's when new holes stopped appearing on my body. Everything kept getting darker and darker until all I saw was darkness.

My head hurt. Trying to open my eyes didn't help any. I tried to say 'oww' but that hurt even more than trying to open my eyes. This time I opened my eyes slowly. Looking around, I realized that I was in a bed, in a white room with something sticking out of my arm and that there was something heavy on my other arm. Looking over at it, I saw a mess of spikey blond hair. The sight brought a smile to my face. Naruto was sleeping and he was using my arm as a pillow.

"It's good to see that you are awake," I heard from an all too familiar voice. I couldn't help but smile again, looking over at the old man and tried to say something but he stopped me before I could even try. "Please, don't try to talk, you're still recovering from what happened. I would like for you to tell me everything you can once you're feeling better. Is that alright?" I tried my hardest to nod my head yes. "Alright. Try to get some rest. You need all you can get right now," he said with a sorrowful look in his eyes. Just as he was about to leave, he stopped and turned back, facing me. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I let this happen." At that, he left and I fell back to sleep.

The next time I woke up, I felt much better. My head wasn't hurting and it didn't hurt when I opened my eyes.

"Akiko! You're finally awake!" And that would be Naruto. "Hey," I said in a raspy voice. Oh goody, my voice is back too. "I was so worried, I'm never leaving you behind again, you got that?" His face looked so, scared? "Yeah, but can you be a little quieter? We are in a hospital." Once I said that he got a little embarrassed and started rubbing the back of his head like he always does when he's embarrassed.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Naruto and I both turned to look at Jiji. "Nah, we just finished," Naruto said with a grin before I had the chance to say anything.

"Good. There is something I'd like to discuss with the two of you," he started. "it has come to my attention that the two of you were told to leave the orphanage. If that's the case, then from now on the two of you will be receiving a stipend every month to live off of and move into an apartment I found that should work out quite nicely. I'd also like to know if either of you are interested in attending the ninja academy."

At that, Naruto couldn't contain his excitement. "Are you serious Jiji? I'd love to go to the academy! What about you Akiko?"

After what just happened, I really wanted to go too. I absolutely hated feeling helpless. Not only did I want to be able to protect myself, but I wanted to be able to protect Naruto, too. "I'd like to go too if it isn't too much trouble."

"Then it's settled. Both of you will start attending the academy as soon as the new year starts. Naruto, can you go wait out in the hall for a second? I would like to talk to your sister in private."

"Okay Jiji, just tell me when I can come back in, okay?" He said hesitantly.

"Of course," Jiji told him. After he left the room, Jiji turned towards me. "So, I've already talked to Naruto and got his side of the story. Now I'd like to hear your side. What do you remember about what happened?"

I told him about everything, from leaving the orphanage up to where Naruto left to get help. That's when I took a deep, shaky breath. "Once Naruto left, I kept trying to get away but I just couldn't. They surrounded me and called both of us demons. That's when they started attacking me. That's the last thing I remember. I don't know what I'm more confused about though, why they attacked us or why they were calling us demons."

"Let me make myself very clear. You and Naruto are not demons. The both of you shouldn't listen to anyone who calls either of you demons."

"Alright Jiji. Was that all you wanted to talk about because I'd really like to leave the hospital as soon as possible."

"Yes, that's all I wished to discuss. And I spoke with your doctor, he said that you're free to leave as soon as you were awake. Now how about I show you two to your new apartment?"

I liked our apartment. It had everything. A kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom. I think the thing I liked the most though was that it was just me and my brother. It's been about a month since Jiji brought us here. The first time we had to go to the store was, well, bad. It was really hard getting everything we needed because there weren't many stores that would let us enter. When we finally found one, we didn't know how to cook so we got cups of instant ramen and spare clothes. Naruto got a few different colored shorts and t-shirts while I opted for a pair of shorts and a pair of pants with different colored t-shirts.

The first time we had dinner, the only thing we had were the cups of instant ramen. I liked them but Naruto absolutely loved them. He would have been fine just eating those for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of his life. I on the other hand couldn't do that so I decided to learn how to cook. He thought I was wasting my time.

(first year) About a month after all of this is when we started to attend the academy. Like usual, no one really wanted anything to do with us so we sat next to each other. Since it was just our first year, we didn't really do anything physical. They taught us history, rules, theory, stuff like that. Naruto tried to pay attention but he was just too hyper. I loved it. There was just something I loved about learning new things. Most of my free time went to more studying outside of what we did in class.

(second) The next year, we started to practice the katas for the basic academy style taijutsu. At first, Naruto and I were having trouble learning them. Eventually I noticed how easily the others were able to get them down so I asked our sensei what we were doing wrong.

"I don't know, some people just aren't cut out for this kinda stuff I guess."

I didn't buy it because all of the civilian students weren't having any trouble, so I decided to start paying attention to how our sensei taught the rest of the students.

" _Huh, that's not how he showed us how to do it._ " For some reason, they were teaching us differently than the rest of the class. I didn't want to bother Jiji with it because of how busy he is. As soon as I found that out though, I started to pay attention to when they would teach the other students and just played along when they got around to teaching us. I shared what I learned with Naruto as soon as we got home after I convinced him to follow my lead. I wasn't gonna let our teachers hurt our chances of being a ninja if I could help it. I couldn't help him with all the paper work but he was a natural when it came to action.

(third) The year after that is when we started to practice throwing with blunted kunai and shuriken. Like last year, they were showing us a different way than the rest of the class. This was a little more difficult to practice at home since we didn't have any kunai or shuriken. Then I had an idea. I remembered one of the teachers teaching us about where ninja went to go train, called training grounds. Apparently our village has a lot of them. I figured they wouldn't always pick up every single kunai and shuriken they used, so Naruto and I went out looking for them at the training grounds we found. It took a while, but eventually we found enough to practice with. Instead of taking a chance running into ninjas using a training ground, we settled for practicing out in the forest.

(fourth) We finally started getting into stuff I was really interested in the next year. Chakra. We started with chakra control exercises. The first one was getting a leaf to stick to our hand. Our teachers taught the class as a whole this time. They had to explain what to do instead of having to show us what to do. Naruto and I had a really hard time with it. Every time we tried it, the leaf would fly away. No matter how much we practiced, the same thing kept happening. Whenever I asked our teacher, they didn't have a clue as to why it was happening. Eventually we got the hang of it, but it took us about five times longer then it took for the rest of the class to do it. That kept happening for every exercise they taught us that year.

Something else they really started to focus on this year was exercise. It wouldn't do for you to get tired in the middle of a fight for your life. What we started to do in class was purely basic though. I figured it was so the civilian students had a chance. Eventually I noticed that I wasn't really having any issues with the exercises and I didn't really feel particularly tired, so I decided to start pushing myself outside of the academy. I just kept increasing what they were teaching us in the academy, but it seemed like my speed training progressed better than the rest of my training.

The fifth year at the academy is when they started to teach us the basic Ninjutsu that was required to graduate. They were the henge, substitution jutsu, and the bunshin jutsu. The henge should have been the hardest of the three since you had to make a perfect copy of another person, but I thought it was pretty easy. The substitution jutsu was also pretty easy for me to get a hold of. The bunshin jutsu though, that was a completely different story. It was similar to the henge because of needing to make a perfect copy of yourself. The difference is how it's an illusion that's by itself, it's not an illusion placed on yourself. When Naruto and I tried to do it, we made the least convincing clone. Like, they didn't even look like they were real. Most of our time this year was focused between those and sparring with other students. Experience was really important when it came to fighting.

We entered the academy early, thanks to Jiji, and we were ready to graduate as the youngest in our class. We would have if it wasn't for the graduation exam. The only things we had to do were to take a written exam, a knife throwing test, and to successfully perform the three academy Ninjutsu. Naruto and I still couldn't do the bunshin jutsu. We had to make three for the test. We didn't pass. Both of us took it pretty hard. We really wanted to be ninjas.

So, we went back to the academy the next year more determined than ever. We practiced our hearts out, but we still couldn't do the stupid bunshin jutsu. We failed, again. I didn't know what to do. We worked so hard but we still couldn't do it. So we went back to the academy. Again.

This time, we had a different teacher. I mean, we had a different teacher each year we were at the academy, but this one was different. It actually seemed like he wanted Naruto and I to learn. His name was Iruka. So, after a while, I decided to ask him for help with the bunshin jutsu.

"I don't know what to tell you Akiko. The best thing I can think of to help you two would be to do more chakra exercises."

"Okay Iruka sensei, well try that and see if it help any."

I knew it wouldn't. We've been doing so many chakra exercises over the past few years and there hasn't been any improvement at all. I decided to put that behind me though. Today was the day we get to go outside and spar. The boys spar boys and girls spar girls. I guess they thought the boys were better than the girls. I have to admit, most of the time they were right. Especially in this class.

Most of the girls in this class didn't take being a ninja seriously. They were more concerned about winning over the last Uchiha. A few years ago, someone killed everyone in their clan except for him. Personally, I didn't know what they saw in him. He never said anything and seemed very rude. Well, I guess I would have been kinda rude if a bunch of guys wouldn't leave me alone. All though there were a few exceptions. Well, two that I could tell. One being myself and the other one being Hinata Hyuga. She never really talked to anyone though. Because we were the only ones not concerned with impressing Sasuke, which was his name, we were the only ones that were any good at sparring.

Every now and then the teachers would pair me up with random girls from the class but most of the time Hinata and I were paired up with each other. She didn't like sparring but after some convincing I got her to feel comfortable sparring against me. She never really liked hurting people and I'd kinda feel bad hurting her so we agreed to mainly stick to light sparring. The other girls were a completely different story. I didn't feel bad hurting them. They didn't last long at all. I held myself back against everyone in spars, too.

The boys were a lot more even. I hate to say it, but Sasuke was probably the best at taijutsu. I was alright, but I've been too focused on trying to do the bunshin lately to really make any progress on my taijutsu. I could definitely give him a run for his money though.

The only others that were any decent were the clan heirs. There is Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akamichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aberame, Hinata Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha. There was also a civilian that was alright. Her name is Sakura Haruno.

Naruto and I weren't any good at Genjutsu. Everyone else didn't have a problem with it. Both of us were really starting to get annoyed about that.

Then there's Ninjutsu. The only ones I knew were the other academy jutsus. The clan heirs each have special jutsus that are unique to their clan. The Yamanaka clan specialize in mind jutsu, the Nara clan specialize in shadow jutsu, the Akamichi clan specialize in body expansion jutsu, the Inuzuka were excellent trackers and had collaborative jutsu with their ninja dogs, the Aberame clan use bugs in their jutsu, the Hyuga clan have the Byakugan and a unique fighting style called the Gentle Fist, and then there's the Uchiha clan who specialize in fire jutsu. I was kinda bummed that I didn't have anything special, but I'll live.

Eventually graduation came around again. Naruto and I still couldn't do the bunshin jutsu. At this point, everyone else has already taken the exam besides Naruto and myself. Naruto got called in before I did. I figured it didn't go well since he ran out of the room.

"Akiko, will you please step in here?" Iruka asked.

I walked in, letting my bangs cover my eyes.

"Alright Akiko, I need you to perform a Henge." I performed it flawlessly.

"Very good, now you need to perform a substitution with one of the chairs in the room." Not only did I substitute with one of the chairs but I substituted with it again so quickly that they almost didn't see it happen.

"Great. All that's left is to make three bunshins." At least Iruka looked worried.

I took a deep breath. All of my focus was on trying to perform the jutsu perfectly, yet nothing was different than from before.

Iruka sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to fail you Akiko. I hope you understand."

"Oh, I think I understand Iruka sensei," I said as I took the calmer alternative to what Naruto did earlier.

I went to where I knew he would be. There was a swing attached to a tree out in the yard of the academy. He would always go sit on it whenever he got really sad. I made my way over to go sit behind him on the swing. We didn't say anything to each other. We settled for watching the rest of the graduates celebrating with their parents.

"It's a shame that the two of you didn't pass, I hope you know that Iruka just wants the best for both of you," Mizuki said as he appeared up in the tree our swing was on.

Neither of us said anything.

"You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I believe there is another way for you two to pass," said Mizuki to the two of us.

That caught our attention. Naruto couldn't help himself when he basically exploded with enthusiasm.

"Alright alright, settle down. Now listen closely, what I'm about to say is very important. What you have to do is sneak into the Hokage's office, steal the giant scroll labeled 'The Forbidden Scroll' and bring it to a shack in the forest next to training ground thirty one an hour after sunset. Once you get there, you need to learn a jutsu inside the scroll. Do you understand?"

When we got to the shack, we opened up the scroll and got to work. "Oh come on, why does the first jutsu have to be the one we're both terrible at," Naruto yelled in frustration.

"Could you be any louder? Don't worry about it, we aren't gonna let this chance pass us up. Now let me look at the scroll," I said. The Kage Bunshin no jutsu. Instead of just making an illusion, these Bunshin are actually clones of yourself. Like they think for themselves and they can interact with things. Oh man, the possibilities! Wait wait wait, we get the memories back too?! Holy shit.

So we started to practice, I helped him here and there and he helped me, too. It took us about an hour to get the hang of it, and that's when Iruka showed up.

"What were you two thinking?" He started.

"Hahaha, looks like you found us already Iruka sensei," Naruto said, "we only had enough time to learn one jutsu."

"Jutsu? What are you talking about," Iruka said clearly confused.

At that, I explained to him how Mizuki-sensei told us about a secret graduation exam and what we had to do to pass it. As soon as I finished explaining everything to Iruka, someone else arrived in the clearing.

"Ah, very good, you two are here. I need you to give me the scroll," said Mizuki-sensei with a grin on his face.

"Stop, you can't let Mizuki get the scroll! He tricked you," Iruka-sensei told us.

Mizuki started laughing, "Oh, so you figured it out. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go get the scroll myself," he said as he threw a handful of kunai at Naruto and I. We were both frozen in shock from having one of our sensei throwing kunai at us.

The next thing I know, Iruka-sensei was in front of us with a kunai sticking out of his left leg.

"Aw, how noble, wanting to protect your precious little students. You should know that it would matter in the end. Especially after I tell them why the entire village has hated them their entire miserable lives," Mizuki boasted while staring down Iruka-sensei with a wicked grin.

"Mizuki, you can't! It's forbidden," Iruka yelled.

At that, I decided to speak up with a confused face. "What? Why is it forbidden?"

"How can I not answer my precious little student? Well, you see, thirteen years ago when the Kyuubi attacked the village, the Yondaime couldn't kill it, so he sealed the nine tailed fox into two infants. He sealed the nine tailed fox into both of you," Mizuki said as he began to laugh hysterically.

Wow. Wasn't expecting that. Naruto wasn't either, he was shaking. I had no reason to believe him, he's already lied to me once today. I'll keep what he said in mind though. The next thing I know, Naruto is running away. Well shit. I headed off in the same direction to try and catch up to him. Eventually I do and I find him sitting at the base of a tree crying to his heart's content.

"Shh, its okay, it'll all be okay," I say as I try to soothe him. That's when Iruka-sensei and Mizuki show up in the clearing on the other side of our tree. From the sounds of it, Iruka-sensei isn't doing too well.

"It's a shame isn't it? The demons got away with the scroll. Not surprising for demons, ne Iruka?" Said Mizuki. He sounds like he's enjoying this…

"You're right," Iruka said as Naruto and I flinched, "demons would do something like that, but Naruto and Akiko are my students, and I believe in them."

" _Oh…"_

"No matter, believing in your students isn't going to save you," said Mizuki as he prepared and threw a windmill shuriken at Iruka-sensei.

" _Like I'd let you teme!"_

When the shuriken was half way to Iruka-sensei, I kicked it out of the way and landed right in front of Iruka-sensei with Naruto.

"If you ever out your hands on Iruka-sensei again, I'll kill you," Naruto said to be followed up by me saying, "Correction, we will kill you," with a deathly smile.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh! As if you little brats could even touch me," said Mizuki as he failed to keep contempt from showing on his face.

"That sounds like a challenge, ne Naruto?" I say with the same deathly smile still in place from before. "Heh, I think it was, so how about we show Mizuki-teme what our new trick?" Naruto said with a smirk. "That sounds like a perfect idea!" I said as both of us brought our hands up into a cross hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Smoke enveloped the clearing, but when it cleared there was nothing but Naruto's and Akiko's everywhere. We both charged the teme at the same time. He didn't stand a chance.

After we dealt with the trash, Iruka decided that both of us graduated and he told us that he expected to see us for team assignments tomorrow. So here we are, in the class room waiting for Iruka-sensei to walk in. Of course there was an uproar when Naruto and I walked into the room.

"What the hell are the two of you doing here? This room is for the students who passed the exam" said one of the more irate Genin.

"Well, I'm not sure how you passed if you can't see our hitai-ate," I said quietly.

"Why you little brat," said the Genin as he jumped at me. He was a little surprised when he saw a tick mark on my forehead, I never really showed any emotion throughout the year I was in his class, but everyone was _very_ surprised when the Genin was sent flying in the opposite direction. They all looked at me with wide eyes.

"What? He's annoying," I said grumbling. Needless to say no one had anything to say after that. Iruka-sensei walked in around then anyways. I think he pretended to not see a very dazed and confused student at the back of his classroom. Whatever, works for me.

"Let me just say that I'm very proud of each and every one of you. From this day forward, you are ninja of the village hidden in the leaves. Genin to be precise, and as Genin, each of you will be placed in a team of three Genin under the instruction of a Jonin sensei. Now, the team assignments," Iruka began to list off the teams. I didn't really care who I was with so I just daydreamed about what my sensei would be like. Eventually Iruka got around to my name.

"Team seven will be Sasuke Uchiha," every single girl in the room perked up to see if they would be put on the same team as their precious 'Sasuke-kun', "Akiko Uzumaki," I frowned at that, "and Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto and I both perked up at that, "your Jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." I went back to daydreaming after that. I was so lost in it that I didn't notice everyone leave with their sensei. About three hours later, Naruto started to get restless. He went up to the chalk board, grabbed an eraser and set up a little prank for our extremely late sensei. "You realize that he's a Jonin right?" I asked with a deadpan.

At that the door opened and the eraser hit who could only be our sensei right in the middle of his head. Naruto couldn't contain his laughter.

"Hmm, I don't like you guys! Meet me on the roof in five minutes," our sensei said before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Three minutes later, I was on the roof, followed by Sasuke and then Naruto. "Let's start with introductions," Kakashi-sensei said as soon as we all sat down.

"How about you go first so we know what to do," I suggested with small smile. "Hmm, I believe I can do that. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I have likes and dislikes, I don't really have any hobbies and my dream for the future is none of your business," he said with an eye smile. "Now it's your turn red."

"Well, my name is Akiko Uzumaki, I like to learn, sleep and my brother, I dislike bullies and idiots, my hobbies are studying and training and my dream is to figure out who my parents were."

"Hmm, okay. You're next blondie." Said our sensei.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like instant ramen and my sister, I dislike the three minutes it takes for the water to boil for instant ramen and the teme, my hobbies are pranks and my dream is to become the Hokage, believe it!"

"And last but not least is the princess," our sensei said to the now enraged last Uchiha.

"Hn, my name is Sasuke Uchiha, there aren't many things I like, I dislike several things, I don't have any hobbies and I don't have a dream for the future. It's more of an ambition, to kill a certain man."

"Alrighty then, now that we all know each other I'll tell you about what we are going to be doing tomorrow. We will be doing a survival exercise. It is a test to see if you all are worthy to be called Genin."

"What do you mean another test?! We already took a test!" said Naruto more than a little outraged.

"That was just to weed out the students who didn't have the potential to be Genin. It's really this test that determines whether or not you're going to be a Genin. Here's a pamphlet containing everything you should know for tomorrow. This test has a sixty six percent fail rate, so I would read that if I were you." Sensei said with an eye smile. "I'll see you all tomorrow at training ground three, seven a.m sharp. Ja ne." and he was gone in another puff of smoke.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I, MrMcMayo, do not own Naruto.

Chapter Two – The Day Naruto got One Step Closer to His Dream

The smoke started to clear from where our sensei once was. A part of me started to feel like he was going to end up doing that. A lot. And I'd be lying if I said it wasn't annoying, but another part of me felt an extreme urge to learn how to do it, too.

As Sasuke started to walk away, I sighed and turned to Naruto. "We should head home, too. We've got a big day ahead of us."

Once we got home, I got Naruto to go through all of our equipment with me so I could make sure that he didn't miss anything. It didn't happen very often, but what happens more often is that he brings along unnecessary things that just weighs us down. After we had that taken care of, I started to make dinner. Since it was such an important night, I refused to let Naruto eat ramen.

I started up a conversation as we sat down at the table. "Sooo, what do you think of our sensei? I wasn't very impressed. Except for when he just kept disappearing. I need to know how to do that."

Naruto had a confused look on his face, "Our clones just disappear in a puff of smoke, do you think it could have just been one of them?"

"Well, it could have been, but he didn't just disappear. I could barely see him move, so I think he's actually that fast. Fast enough to make us think that he disappeared. That wouldn't explain the smoke though, unless he used chakra for something like we used chakra for our clones," I said with a look of consideration on my face.

"Uhh, yeah, sure. Whatever you say Akiko." It was very clear that he wasn't following what I was saying. "Anyways, I think I agree with you. He doesn't seem very tough," he said with a frown.

"Well just because I wasn't impressed doesn't mean he isn't tough. He's probably a Jonin for a reason, ya know?" I mean, there are plenty of people who don't make it past Genin and even more who don't make it past Chunin.

"Ehh, it doesn't matter anyways. I'm going to pass whatever test he can throw at us, believe it!"

"Heh, you won't have to tell me twice. I don't think it's possible for me to not believe in you anymore." I meant every word I said. There was something about Naruto that made you want to believe in him. "Well I don't know about you but I'm tired. Could you wash the dishes while I get ready for bed?"

"Yeah yeah, I'll take care of them," he agreed begrudgingly.

The next day I woke up around six in the morning on my own. During the academy, I would wake up around now so I could get some exercise in before we needed to be at the academy. I let Naruto sleep a little longer while I got ready, which was only five minutes. Ninja were supposed to be prepared for a mission at any time so it really should have taken me less time to get ready. We still had plenty of time so I figured I could take my time getting ready. I had a different outfit for missions than what my casual everyday clothes were. I had my hair tied back in a ponytail, a charcoal grey jacket with a dark green tank top over a fabric covered metal mesh under piece, standard black shinobi pants with black toeless shinobi sandals. Ever since Naruto found this orange jumpsuit, it's been the only thing he wears no matter what.

After I woke up Naruto and after he got ready we headed off to training ground three. Sasuke was already there by the time we got there. We settled for leaving each other alone.

I'd say we waited half an hour before Naruto started to get antsy. Sasuke looked like, well, Sasuke. I was starting to get impatient like Naruto so I figured I would try something I've been reading about lately. Meditation. I went over under a tree, got into the lotus position, and got to work.

At first, I thought things were going fine, but then I felt something happen. I opened my eyes to find out that I was in something that looked like a sewer. There were two different types of pipes running along the top of the sewers, one with something blueish green flowing through it and the other with an orange red flowing through it. They were both going in the same direction and I didn't have anything else to go on, so I followed them.

After what felt like five minutes, the pipes led me to this massive opening. On the other side of the opening, there were a bunch of metal bars. In the middle of all of them, there was something that looks like a paper tag.

" **It's about time one of my host came to visit me.** "

Oh, what the _shit_. "Uh, hello? Where are you? I can't exactly see much of anything in here."

Almost right after I said that, two massive red eyes opened behind the iron bars. " **Tch, typical human. They never know anything until it is right in front of them.** "

Well, this was definitely more than I bargained for. "Well, I do appreciate you making some of you more visible, but, uh, can you make more of you visible?"

" **I can.** "

Great, a smart ass. "Are you?"

" **Why should I?** "

"Uh, so I can see who I'm talking to?" This guy seems to be even lazier than I can be sometimes.

" **Why should I care about that?** "

"I don't know, so I can know who I'm talking to?"

" **I'm what you humans call the Kyubii, are you satisfied now?** "

"I guess so? Would you happen to know where we are?"

" **What's with all of these questions? Shouldn't you be cowering in fear from the mighty Kyubii no kitsune?** "

"Well, I probably would be if it wasn't for the fact that you haven't done anything yet so I'm betting that you can't exactly do much to me while you're behind those bars. And when I have no idea what is going on, I generally ask questions if it's a viable option."

" **Tch, we are in the manifestation of your mindscape. Will you leave now?** "

"I have one more question for now I guess, what's your name? Saying that your name is Kyubii would be lying. That's just an identifier."

" **… I am not going to tell you my name. You do not deserve to know it.** "

"I guess that's fair, you are very proud and we did just meet. Though I'll let you know that I'll be trying my hardest to get it from you."

" **Just leave already you insignificant ant.** "

This time, I open my eyes for real, just to find a pair of blue ones staring back at me. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"I was bored and I had no idea what you were doing so I wanted to ask but you wouldn't open your eyes," he said with a huff.

Really? Huh. "Sorry, I guess I was more concentrated than I thought. How long have you been trying to get my attention?"

"For at least five minutes, I think it's almost time for our sensei to get here."

Little did any of us know that we would be waiting for another three hours. Needless to say that all of us were put off by this, though Naruto was the only one to openly voice his annoyance.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"Hmm, well you see there was this black cat that crossed my path so I had to take the long way around Konoha," was his excuse.

Silence.

Then I had to snort. I couldn't hold it in. "Can we start this survival exercise test thing now?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," Kakashi sensei says as he pulls an alarm clock out of nowhere, "I've set this to noon. You three will have until then to get these two bells from my belt. Whoever doesn't get a bell will have to go back to the academy. Do you understand?"

Before Sasuke or I could say anything, "What do you mean go back to the academy?! We already graduated," Naruto decided to throw his opinion in.

"Well, if you can't get the bells, you obviously don't deserve to be Genin. So, as soon as I say start, try to get these bells. And remember, you will need to come at me with the intent to kill, or else you will never get these. Ready? Start," that's all Kakashi sensei had to say for Sasuke and I to take off and find somewhere to hide. On the other hand, Naruto decided to fight him one on one. I thought I talked to him last night about him being a Jonin for a reason, damn it.

While Naruto decided to not think things through all the way, I started to think. The three of us are fresh out of the academy. There is no way any of us could even hope to get one of those bells on our own. There's really only one way around this, and that's to work together.

With that decided, I went off to find Sasuke. It probably should have been more difficult to find him, but for some reason it wasn't. " **That would be because of me.** " _Oh, so we can talk like this now?_ " **Sadly, we can. After hosts make first contact with their prisoners, things change. Communication is one, along with why you are finding it easier to find someone. It's something all of my hosts have been able to do to some degree.** " _Oh, okay, thanks for letting me know then._ With that question answered, I approached Sasuke to try and talk with him.

"Psst, Sasuke, we need to talk," I started with because diplomacy is always good right?

"What are you doing, you'll give me away," was his intelligent response.

"Like I just said, we need to talk. There's no way any of us are going to be able to take a bell from Kakashi sensei alone, we are going to need to work together."

"Work together? Why the hell would I do that? The two of you would just hold me back, I'll have a better shot alone." And with that, he decided the conversation was over because he decided to leave. Well at least I tried, right? I might as well get Naruto in on my plan at any rate.

Just like with Sasuke, it was much easier to find Naruto than it should have been. However, I didn't expect him to be where I found him, which was caught in one of the most obvious traps I've ever seen. With a sigh, I threw one of my kunai to cut him free from the trap. He dropped with a resounding thud on the ground.

"Akikoooo, what was that for," he practically whined.

"What was that for? That was for falling for such an obvious trap you bonehead," I said exasperatedly. "Anyways, we need to talk. There is no possible way for us to get those bells on our own, we need to use team work."

"What? No way! I'm a Genin now, I can take one of those bells form him, believe it!" And, once again, he left before I could say anything else. I thought I raised him better than that.

"Hmm, what do we have here?" Well, it figures that he would single me out sooner or later. "You know, you're the only one that hasn't tried getting the bells yet."

"Well, I like to actually make plans that have a chance at working, ya know? And none of them include fighting you one on one," I said with a reasonable amount of caution in my voice.

"At least one of you has some sense. The only rule I have left to test on you is Genjutsu. Let's see how you do," he said with an absurd amount of cheer in his voice. And that's when he disappeared into a bunch of petals. That's also when I hear a very familiar voice scream. I know Kakashi sensei just said he was going to test me in Genjutsu and that I could tell Naruto wasn't in this direction, I still sprinted towards the scream.

What I was greeted with was not a pleasant sight, by any means. I found a Naruto, just with a lot of extra holes and a lot of blood where it shouldn't be. It… it's almost exactly how I would have looked on our sixth birthday.

"Akiko, I thought we agreed that we would never leave each other behind again. Why didn't you come with me? Why would you let something like this happen to me?"

Seeing that basically brought back a form of PTSD from that night. I started to tremble and my breath hitched, and then I remembered it was supposed to be a Genjutsu. So, with definitely too much chakra, I screamed "KAI" and promptly fell to my knees to get my bearings.

After a little while, I was thinking coherent thoughts again and the first one was that I wanted to hit something. Specifically Kakashi sensei. Why would anyone show that to someone?

So, I may or may not be as much of a rational thinker as I was before I saw that, because I sought him out on my own. I already knew what I wanted to do to him, and I was still able to find people easier when I shouldn't have, so I headed off.

I found him in the middle of a small clearing. I was pissed, but not pissed enough to act brashly. "Do you even know what you showed me? I don't have any idea how you would know about what happened." At least he looked a little sheepish, I think that's what that look means. Can't really tell with him.

"I actually have no idea what I showed you, it was just supposed to play on your fears." Nope, still can't tell if he even feels remotely bad about it.

I take a deep breath in, and breathed out slowly. "That makes me a little less angry, but I still want to hit you for it."

"Ma, no offence, but I'd like to see you try," again with that fake cheer. I think I want to hit him even more. Without another word, I raise my hands into the cross sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Four more of me popped into existence with another four I hiding to make more when these eventually pop. The scroll said that this was considered a forbidden jutsu because of how much chakra it cost. I don't really understand how because in all honesty, I'm makes my chakra feel better. Like, it's losing pressure or something.

Now I really haven't had enough time to properly practice fighting with clones but I don't really know much else that would really help against sensei. We were all over the place. Though I think I did the best out of my team because I actually made him put his book away during our fight. And just about when we were getting into it, the bell on the alarm clock went off.

When Kakashi sensei and I walked back to the three training post on the training grounds, Naruto and Sasuke were already there but Naruto was tied up to the center post. I sat down in front of the right post because Sasuke was sitting in front of the left one.

"Alright, I'll give you another chance to get the bells after you eat, but because Naruto tried to eat before he was told he doesn't get one. You two can't share yours with him either. Don't try to do it either because I'll know if you do." And with that, Kakashi sensei disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"It's alright guys, I don't need lunch anyways," Naruto started but was cut off by his stomach growling.

Without a second thought, I opened my bento and started trying to feed him. Surprisingly enough, Sasuke offered some of his too.

"You guys…" aww, it looks like he's getting tears in his eyes.

"If there's any way for me to help you, I will dattebane," I said with a small smile.

"If you don't have any, you'll just be more of a liability next time," I could accept that from Sasuke, for now at least.

That was when the wind picked up out of nowhere and a bunch of leaves flew into a vortex that Kakashi sensei appeared in. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO GIVE YOUR FOOD TO HIM, AS PUNISHMENT… You all pass."

"WHAT?! Really? I'm an actual ninja now?" Well, at least he knows what's important to him.

"Yep, all of you are. We will start team training at this training ground tomorrow at the same time. Ja ne!" Annnnd he was gone. Great. So I guess we are free for the rest of the day then.

"Well, how does Ichiraku sound for a celebration?" I say to Naruto because Sasuke is already walking away.

"Really? Awesome, let's go!" I'm all for the enthusiasm but he was still tied up. For the second time that day I had to cut him loose.

A/N: Sorry for not updating this regularly. I've been busy recently but I should be getting more free time here soon. I'll try do weekly updates at the least starting soon, though I'm going to try to do more. I haven't really been making extensive fight scenes but I'm trying to get through these beginning phases as quickly as I can because the parts I really want to write would probably start at the Chunin exams. Any feedback is welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I, MrMcMayo, do not own Naruto.

Chapter Three – This Seems Strange

It was the day after we took what I came to call the bell test. All of us were waiting at the training ground at the time Kakashi sensei said. When it became clear that Kakashi sensei wasn't going to be here anytime soon, I got up and walked away from the rest of the group.

Of course, Naruto had to say something. "Akiko? What's wrong? Where are you going?"

With a sigh of frustration, I answered him. "Instead of just sitting around for the next few hours until Kakashi sensei shows up, I'm going to go train." And with my part said, I went off further into the training grounds to find a good place to start.

I didn't want to go too far away from the group incase Kakashi sensei showed up, but far enough away to be able to focus. The first thing I really wanted to figure out was if I could actually get the memories back from my Kage Bunshin. So, I made one and told it to say something out of my hearing range and then to dispel itself. It clearly wasn't in a rush because it just walked to the side of the clearing I found. When it popped, I remembered asking myself why I was doing this. Well, to answer a question obviously. With that out of the way, I wanted to see what kind of training they could help with. This time I made ten Kage bunshin. There was this chakra exercise I read about recently called tree walking. What you do is feed a steady stream of chakra to your feet so you can climb trees by only walking up them. They knew what to do, so they got to work.

While they were doing that, I took out a scroll that I found at the library that peeked my interest. Apparently there is a very uncommon ninja art called Fuinjutsu. You write kanji out in special ink where it will do special things. Like exploding tags or storage scrolls, those are examples of fairly basic Fuinjusu I think. The scroll I had was basic theory behind how it works.

I was reading that for about half an hour before I noticed that one of my clones was making more progress than the other ones. That's… interesting. I guess each clone has its own way of thinking. Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if clones get memories from other clones…

"Hey, the me to my ten o'clock, can you dispel yourself please?" Even if I'm just talking to myself, it's always good to be nice. Just like I asked, the clone dispelled herself and I got the memories but I still didn't know if the clones did. "So, did the rest of you get the memories as well?"

What I got in return was a chorus of "Yea Boss" so I guess that's another question answered. "Okay then, can you dispel yourselves each time you make decent progress then?" Another chorus of "Yea Boss" and that was taken care of.

I went back to my reading for a while until one of my clones tried to get my attention. Apparently they mastered tree walking while I was reading. I told them to dispel themselves and sure enough, I was able to walk up a tree just using my feet and chakra. I still haven't felt Kakashi sensei show up yet so I figured I'd try something different. I made another clone to finish reading the scroll while I decided to meditate again.

After a significantly shorter time than the last time I meditated, I was back in what was apparently my mindscape. I also appeared right in front of the iron bars this time as well.

" **What are you doing here again?** "

Well, he's not screaming at me so I guess that's good, right? "Well you see, I like talking to people face to face if it's an option."

" **I'm not a person.** "

"No, you definitely aren't, but you talk and think enough like one to count in my book." I said with a faint smile. I can't really see why people are scared of him besides for how powerful he is. He just seems really cranky to me which is completely understandable.

" **Why are we talking in the first place?** "

"Oh, I was wondering why you told me about the changes that happen after we meet for the first time." I really am curious, I didn't think that he would start a conversation with me on his own free will.

" **Because I don't like being falsely accused.** "

Huh? "But I never accused you of anything."

" **You didn't.** "

"Uh, okay? Well thanks for telling me about it none the less."

" **Why do you talk to me?** "

What? "What do you mean?"

" **All of my previous hosts have never talked to me as much as you have in these past two days combined. I'll ask again, why do you talk to me?** "

Oh, that's what he means. "Well, you're here and you haven't shown me any reason not to talk to you. I don't know how long you have been kept in places like this, let alone with no one to talk to, so I guess you would like someone to talk to sometimes too."

" **And why would I want to talk with the likes of you?** "

"Why? Mainly because as far as I know, I'm the only one you can talk with."

" **Tch, I'm done talking with you.** "

I, ok, I guess I probably should leave. And I did without saying anything else.

When I opened my eyes, I could feel Kakashi sensei but he wasn't with the boys. So, like any other person who has had their curiosity peeked, I went to go see what he was doing. I recovered the scroll from my clone and popped it, of course.

It didn't take me very long to find him. He was at a rock that kinda looked special in a way.

"I didn't expect anyone to come while I was here," was what he had to say when I started to walk towards him.

"I didn't expect our new teacher to keep us waiting for this long because he was staring at a rock not even five hundred feet away from our meeting point, sensei." I wasn't really upset, I was more curious than anything really.

"Hm, well I spend a lot of my time here. Most of my friends and people who were like family to me are on this stone."

"By the way, what is this stone? I've never seen it before and I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone talk about it before."

"This is the Memorial Stone. The name of people who have died for the village are etched on it."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that then. It makes me wonder though."

"About what?"

"I wonder if either of my parents' names are on here." I said, significantly sadder than before. "Do you want me to leave you alone for a while longer?"

"No no, I don't think that will be necessary. Although, could you head back before me?"

"Sure thing, sensei."

Our team training sessions usually followed the same pattern as the first day. The team would get there a few hours earlier than sensei, I would go off on my own, and I would come back whenever I felt sensei show up. Most days we would do one or two D rank missions after we finished our training. A few weeks of this went by before I decided I needed to ask sensei for specific help.

"Sensei? Do you have a second?"

"Hm? Oh, I think I have a few." He still hasn't stopped using that fake cheer of his.

"Well, I've been training outside of team training and I've kinda run into a wall."

"Oh? What are you having a problem with?"

"I've been focused on my speed lately, but I just can't seem to get any faster than I am now."

"Do you mind if I ask why you've been focused on speed?"

"Well, I figured if I ran into an enemy I can't handle and don't have any back up for some reason, I should at least be fast enough to run away."

"Hm, I see. Have you ever heard of training weights? They may be able to help with your problem."

"Okay, do you know where I can get some or how to use them properly for that matter?"

"Don't worry about that for now, I'll get you the training weights and tell you how to use them when I give them to you."

"Okay, thanks Kakashi sensei!"

That was the only interesting thing that happened in the four weeks after our first training session. At the end of the fourth week, Naruto had had enough of the amount of D ranks we've done.

"Jiji, I can't take it anymore! We've been doing these stupid D ranks forever. We're ready for a C rank, believe it!"

Iruka sensei happened to be at the mission desk when we went to get our mission for the day. He apparently didn't like the way Naruto was talking to Jiji. "Naruto, you know better than to act like that in front of the Hokage!"

"Now now Iruka, it's quite alright. If I remember correctly, I think I have a C rank left for today. How about it, Kakashi? Do you think your team is ready for a C rank?"

"I believe they are, Hokage-sama."

"Perfect, I'll have your client sent in then," and with that, he did something and I could hear some shuffling outside the mission desks doors. When the doors opened, an old man, at least by ninja standards, walked in with a bottle of alcohol in hand.

"What's this? A bunch of brats are supposed to protect me? The short one doesn't even look like a ninja."

Sadly, it took Naruto a few seconds to realize that he was talking about him. Then he charged our client.

"Naruto, we don't attack our clients."

"I don't care, let me at him!"

That was when Jiji coughed once to get everyone's attention. "As entertaining as this is, I still have work to do."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." With that, the old man left and so did we, though sensei stopped us outside of the Hokage's tower. "We leave in one hour. Meet at the main gate then." That's all he said before he was replaced by a plum of smoke. Sasuke walked away, too.

"We need to go get ready too, Naruto."

When we met up at the gate, Sasuke and the old man were already there. Then I remembered something.

"Excuse me, but I don't think we ever got your name."

"It's Tazuna, little girl."

This guy is gonna be fun to be around. Luckily for him, that was when sensei decided to showed up.

"It's good to see you all getting along with the client, is everyone ready to go?"

"Hai sensei" was the response he got from the team.

While sensei was signing papers so we could leave, Naruto couldn't contain his excitement over something apparently. It looked like he was about to explode with energy.

"Oh man, this is going to be my first time outside of the village. What do you all think it's gonna be like?" That wasn't exactly what I was expecting but I guess it's better than other things.

He only got a "Hn" from Sasuke so I guess I should humor him. "Well, since we're in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, I gonna assume that there are going to be a lot of trees until we get to a town which is probably gonna be pretty similar to Konoha."

"Why to take the fun out of it," aww, he's so cute when he pouts.

We've been on the road for most of the day. We were in a diamond formation around Tazuna with Sasuke in the lead, Naruto on the left, me on the right with sensei in the rear. We had to go at civilian pace thanks to Tazuna. That also meant no tree hopping so we were stuck to pathways. I couldn't tell if there was anything suspicious on the road until we came across a puddle of water. We were still fairly close to Konoha and it hasn't rained recently, and I don't think there's a body of water around here either so how is it here?

I glanced back at sensei to see if he thought anything about it but he was just reading that orange book like he always was so I guess it wasn't as big of a deal as I was making it. I decided not to say anything but I was still suspicious about it.

We kept walking past the puddle, but just when Kakashi sensei walked past it, two people jumped out of it. They wrapped their chain, which was connected to a gauntlet on one guys arm and to another gauntlet on the other guys arm, around sensei and pulled, effectively turning him into minced meat.

"Heh, that's one down, just three more to go," said one guy to the other. Then they charged at us, only they seemed to be more focused on Tazuna. I guess what they said would make sense then. I took stock of the situation like they taught us to do in the academy. Sasuke looked like he was ready for a fight annnnd it looks like Naruto is frozen from shock. Great.

"Naruto! Protect Tazuna!" Good. It seems that having his typically docile sister take control got him moving again. Now I need to help Sasuke. It looks like he's going to the one closest to him so I need to go for the other one then. I met mine with a duck and a kick to the chin which sent him back a few feet. Sasuke dodged the punches that were aimed at him and retaliated with one of his Great Fire Ball Jutsu.

Unfortunately, this drove Sasuke's bad guy right behind me. This gave the two of them the great idea to try the same thing that they did to sensei. They were quick, but luckily I'm quicker. Just as the chain was about touch me, I side flipped over it and threw a kunai at the chain to pin it to the tree they were going to use as leverage to bisect me. That bought Sasuke and I a few seconds to regroup at retaliate.

Just after the two of them disengaged their chain from their gauntlets, Sasuke went for the one he originally fought with an overhead strike while I went at mine with another kick to the head. Sasuke's target was quick enough to dodge, but mine wasn't. I kicked my guy square at his temple and sent him flying into another tree. He didn't look like he was going to get up anytime soon.

Just as Sasuke's guy saw it happened, he screamed "brother!" and looked very angry at me. However, just as he turned to me like he was going to charge, sensei appeared behind him at hit him hard enough on the neck to knock him out.

"Good job, Akiko. You too, Sasuke, though we're going to need to talk about your battlefield awareness when we get home. If Akiko didn't react as quickly as she did, we might have needed to remove that chain from her. Naruto, I understand that this was your first actual fight but we can't have you freezing up like that anymore, alright?"

"Hai, sensei. It won't happen again." Hmm, looks like it's really bothering him too.

"Now, Tazuna, I think you have a few questions to answer." Yep. That's definitely fake cheer. This can't be good.

"Uh, what do you mean by that?"

"Well, I let them think they disposed of me so I could see who their real target was and it was pretty clear that their target was you. I wonder why?" This moment will serve as a prime example to anyone that you shouldn't piss off Kakashi sensei.

Kakashi sensei went off to interrogate the two people, who had to be ninjas, who attacked us and "asked" Tazuna a few questions too, though I'm pretty sure that those questions were in the form of an interrogation too.

"Well team, it turns out that there is a man named Gato. He own all of the sea trade in the Land of Waves. He's a tyrant who has a monopoly on the trade industry there. If Tazuna builds this bridge of his, the people of the Land of Waves will no longer need to use Gato to receive their goods. Of course, Gato can't have that. He has been after Tazuna for a while now, so he decided that he should come to Konoha and hire protection. As all of us can tell, he has ninja after him which would make this a B rank mission at the least. We could go back to Konoha because of the falsified mission information, or we can inform the Hokage of what has happened and continue the mission. What do you all want to do?"

"We can't just run away because there might be more ninja involved, we need to carry out the mission!"

"I agree with the dobe."

With a sigh, I say "Even if I didn't want to, I'm out numbered. Good thing I want to as well then, I guess."

"Alright then, just let me send a message back to Konoha and we will be on our way."


End file.
